I stood at a concert

[MangosteenSoda]

Went to a concert and had a seat to the side of the stage. In my experience, everyone stands when the act comes on. This didn’t happen universally, but probably around a quarter of the crowd started by standing. I was a little in front of most of the other ‘standers’ and sort of leaned on my seat a bit to minimise myself I suppose, but wanted to enjoy the songs and not sit.

A few songs in, a lady behind me tapped my arm and asked me to sit because her boyfriend/husband (sitting next to her) couldn’t see. I just said, ‘I’m sorry, but this is a concert’ and carried on standing. I’m pretty small and there were massive screens and a stage. I don’t think I blocked it all out.

A few songs later, the ‘very popular and famous’ song was performed and everyone stood up including the woman and her boyfriend. After that, most of the crowd continued standing and a bunch of people were dancing like windmills and nobody bothered them. The angry man and his girlfriend stormed out at this point.

I don’t have a particular aibu, but I felt that I was only asked to sit because I looked like an easy target to ask. It annoyed me that the woman had to ask for the guy and that it was put to me that I should sit because this guy’s preference was all important. I also felt sad for the woman because she was wearing the band T Shirt (so I assumed she was the fan) and this guy seemed to ruin her night with his moans and complaints while she just seemed to want to dance and enjoy the concert like everyone else.

So, should there be areas at concerts where everyone has to stay seated? I don’t think all the seating areas should be this way because they outnumber the floor and it would make for pretty sedentary concerts but maybe a compromise somewhere?

Fucking hell. You've shown yourself to be a top person on this thread.

I hope you're never in a position to need someone to show you a bit of compassion.

In fact I hope you do and the person you ask is someone like you

Where have I said it needs to? If you have a choice to makes someone's life a little better why not take it?

We wonder why there were so many votes for Reform... Well with the attitude of so many it's hardly surprising is it

So many posters saying just get standing tickets. Clearly you either don’t follow big artists or you’ve never booked via Ticketmaster! The last four concerts I’ve been to have involved my having to log in on three separate devices, and ending up getting whatever non-VIP Super Douper platinum and diamond tickets are left, usually up in the Gods.

Not to mention the fact that the maths aren’t mathing in terms of seating vs standing. Wembley stadium holds 90k seated and 25k standing, so 22% of the capacity is standing. I would hazard a guess that more than 22% of say Beyoncé or Coldplay’s fans would want to purchase standing tickets but can’t.

You know there's other people next to you standing too and most gigs don't have screens. So it's exactly the same

Why do you think the world should change for you?

I don't think the world should change for me, for the most part.

However, I am aware that many people are restricted in what they can do because the world doesn't change for them. Many people are permanently disabled, and many more are temporarily so, be it through injury, post-op recovery, post illness or a temporary thing like pregnancy. I have a friend who is fond of reminding people that we are all temporarily abled.

As a general rule, making things more accessible for thoe who need it tends to make things better for everyone. That is a challenge in some venues, particularly the older ones, and different venues are laid our differently in the first place. That doesn't mean we shouldn't even bother trying.

I am quite sure that people who do require more adjustments have to use enough resilience just to get through everyday life. We don't have to settle for making it even harder. One day, it might be the rest of us needing things to be more accessible. I'm quite happy for venues to be thinking about that now in case I need it in 20 years. I'd like to still go out sometimes, even if I end up deaf, blind or in a wheelchair.

Not most. Some. But people end up being forced to stand due the few that do. Just You've forced people behind you to stand don't assume they want to.

Fuck me, just when I thought disablism on MN couldn't get any worse.

I'm glad my report has been taken seriously

no, honestly. most.

people have linked to recordings of gigs and concerts on here and there are millions available on youtube. Have a skim. Most people spend most of a concert singing and dancing, seated or not. And the performers WANT them to do this. Can you imagine how weird it would be if you were jumping around a stage, sweating, singing/playing your heart out, base thumping, strobe lights flashing, and 80,000 people are just sitting there politely nodding as if they are having a cup of tea in costa?

I've been to a lot of gigs. You can send links to teens at Taylor Swift but many adults don't want to stand the whole time.
You want to feel better about blocking someone's view so are assuming they are standing because they want to not because they've been forced by those standing in front of them.
Even at many standing gigs people aren't dancing and screaming, they sway a bit and tap their toe. Again not gigs mostly made up of teens.

ironically if you want to SEE the artist and that's your main reason for going yes you would be better off watching it on tv.

don't pretend that for the average person on row 89 block H they can see anything other than a brightly coloured dot bouncing about. Having someone stand in front of you is not going to make any difference.

The main reason people get standing tickets is to be up close and personal, because even the front rows of seats are far away. Even if you pay hundreds for the very first row of seats, these are always behind the standing area, so in stadiums of thousands/hundreds of thousands, with 20--30% of tickets standing, you are not going to be able to see the performer's facial expressions, see the notes played on their instruments etc from your seat.

I don’t think many people are denying that there should be increased accessible seating/choice of seating that suits all. Just that many more people want to stand for all or part of the show. Adults and teens alike. And most people are ok with that and understand that sometimes they will be sitting while others stand.

I've been to a lot of gigs. You can send links to teens at Taylor Swift but many adults don't want to stand the whole time.
You want to feel better about blocking someone's view so are assuming they are standing because they want to not because they've been forced by those standing in front of them.
Even at many standing gigs people aren't dancing and screaming, they sway a bit and tap their toe and find the people screaming annoying. Again not gigs mostly made up of teens.

So who decides how much standing is acceptable?

I don't understand the question? Sit if you are in the seated area. Stand in standing area.

You said “many adults don’t want to stand the whole time”. I quoted you but it wasn’t just you, lots of people said “people stand for the big hits”. Who gets to decide that? It’s impossible to manage.

I don't think anyone could seriously argue that it wouldn't be a good idea to have more seating options. If every venue had a range of options from mosh pit to wheelchair accessible areas with several points in between it would be great. But they don't, and there are lots of people who who can't or don't want to stand for all kinds of reasons but don't qualify for the accessible areas. A few posters have made the very good point that the fact that almost everyone is standing doesn't necessarily mean that everyone wants to. If I was somewhere where most people were standing I would probably stand up too in an effort to see something but it would be painful and I would pay for it the next day. I suspect that at many events (especially bands from my youth!) I wouldn't be that unusual and lots of people would probably appreciate being able to stay seated and still see.
To be fair, I probably didn't have much appreciation of what it is like to be temporarily disabled or to have impaired mobility but not be disabled "enough" to qualify for accessible seating etc until found myself in those situations so it doesn't really surprise me that many posters seem unaware. But I think that even when I was young and healthy I would have sat down if someone had asked me to. Just because you're allowed to do something doesn't mean you always should.

Try having to sit down. There are only 310 wheelchair spaces at Wembley Stadium.

It's ace being disabled. Beautiful attitude people have

Why are you wants and needs more important than mine?

Erm because you have a choice and they don’t??

Pretty sure the Boyzone gigs I went to weren't full of teens either but grown women who were standing up, singing and dancing

I mean if one is going to see boyzone then they are pretending to be a teen for the night no?

Can you suggest which concerts the are for "proper" adults since it's now teens and those who might be reliving their past as teens who stand?